September 18, 2015

Cuba Study Group

Washington, DC- The Cuba Study Group today released the following statement on news that President Obama has once again exercised his executive authority to further increase support for the Cuban people and further expand opportunities for the country’s growing entrepreneurial sector:

“We commend President Obama on taking further steps to facilitate the free flow of resources, information and people to Cuba. Previous executive actions expending travel and remittances have helped fuel the expansion of Cuba’s nascent private sector. Additional actions taken since December 2014 have built on this success by further expanding allowable transactions by Cuban entrepreneurs including allowing them to export their products and services from Cuba and to import necessary goods from the U.S. Today’s announcement further expands their ability to leverage the interest, resources and knowledge of the U.S. private sector to start and expand their businesses.

In the absence of action by the U.S. Congress to do away with a half-century old embargo that has only served to further isolate the Cuban people, President Obama’s leadership through executive action has offered solidarity and support to the Cuban people, who have been the real victims of the failed policy of isolation. We take this opportunity to reiterate our call on Members of Congress to put the interests of the U.S. and the Cuban people ahead of outdated politics and move swiftly to do away with sanctions that far from providing the U.S. with leverage to bring about change, actually makes change in Cuba more difficult.

Under the new regulations announced today, Cuban entrepreneurs will benefit from the elimination of the cap on non-family remittances, an expansion in the number of U.S. persons authorized to travel under general license, increased access to telecommunications services including software and consumer electronics, new opportunities to export mobile applications to the U.S., increased access to U.S. banking services and reliable U.S. parcel and shipping transmission services, and other important measures.

We are pleased that many of the recommendations offered by the Cuba Study Group in its recent publications have been adopted by regulators and believe they will have an important impact on the success of Cuban entrepreneurs. However, there is still more that President Obama can do to support Cuba’s private sector by further facilitating travel and access to many of the services and inputs that Cuban entrepreneurs need to grow and succeed.”